What are the legal and religious consequences for a charitable organization in the event that a sacrificial animal is damaged or spoiled after slaughter?
All praise is due to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon our Master, the Messenger of Allah.
Charitable organizations entrusted with slaughtering sacrificial animals (uḍḥiyyah) and distributing their meat on behalf of their owners are obligated to safeguard the meat from spoilage, damage, theft, and any other harm. This is because such organizations act as agents (wukalā') on behalf of those offering the sacrifice, and an agent holds what is entrusted to them in trust (amānah) — whether they receive a wage for their work or act on a voluntary basis.
If the sacrificial animal is damaged after slaughter during the processes of packaging, transportation, or storage due to negligence or oversight — whether on the part of the organization's own staff overseeing the operation, or on the part of third parties contracted by the organization such as transport or shipping companies — then liability falls upon the negligent party, who is required to compensate for the value of the sacrifice. It is not permissible to cover such compensation from the organization's other donor funds.
However, if the damage to the sacrificial animal occurs without any negligence in its preservation and storage on the part of any party involved in the transportation, shipping, or storage process, and is instead attributable to force majeure circumstances beyond their control, then no financial liability is borne by any party in such a case. And Allah Almighty knows best.
What is the ruling on a person who insists on praying in a specific spot and becomes angry if someone else prays there?
ruling on a person who persists in praying in a specific spot and becomes angry if someone else occupies it
Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our Master, the Messenger of Allah.
Our Master the Prophet ﷺ forbade a man from habitually claiming a specific spot in the mosque as a camel claims its place (to sit); scholars consider this to be among the disliked matters (Makruhat). It is therefore obligatory to advise this individual that whoever arrives at a spot first has the most right to it. And Allah the Exalted knows best.
What are the Sharia consequences when the sacrificial time for the uḍḥiyyah comes to an end?
In the Name of Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon our Master, the Messenger of Allah.
If the sun sets on the final day of Tashriq (the 13th of Dhu al-Hijjah) and the Udhiyah (sacrificial animal) has not yet been slaughtered, its designated time has expired. Should a person slaughter it after this point, it will not be counted as an Udhiyah.
However, if the sacrifice was a vowed one (Mandhurah), they are strictly obligated to slaughter it as a makeup act (Qada’), and its meat must be distributed entirely according to the rules governing vowed sacrifices.
It is stated in Bushra al-Karim (p. 702): "If one slaughters after sunset on the final day [of Tashriq]... it does not count as an Udhiyah, unless it was a vowed sacrifice, in which case it is fulfilled as a makeup act (Qada’)." And Allah the Almighty Knows Best.
What is the ruling on combining (jam‘) and shortening (qaṣr) prayers when travel is repeated on a daily basis?
All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
A traveler is permitted to avail himself of the concessions of shortening and combining prayers once the distance of his journey reaches (81 km) or more. This is on condition that his journey is a permissible one, and that he begins shortening and combining only after setting out and passing beyond the built-up limits of the city in which he resides, or beyond the administrative boundaries of the area where he lives.
Accordingly, if the distance between one's workplace and one's place of residence reaches the distance upon which the concession of combining and shortening depends, then combining and shortening are permissible once he leaves the built-up area, even if this travel is repeated on a daily basis.
Ash-Shirbīnī (raḥimahullāh) said: "It is permissible to combine Ẓuhr and ‘Aṣr, either as an early combination (taqdīm) in the time of the first, or as a delayed combination (ta'khīr) in the time of the second; and likewise Maghrib and ‘Ishā' — either early, in the time of the first, or delayed, in the time of the second — during a long, permissible journey, in following [the Prophet's practice]. As for the delayed combination, it is established in the two Ṣaḥīḥs from the ḥadīth of Anas and Ibn ‘Umar (raḍiyallāhu ‘anhum). As for the early combination, Ibn Ḥibbān and al-Bayhaqī graded it ṣaḥīḥ from the ḥadīth of Mu‘ādh, and at-Tirmidhī graded it ḥasan." [Quoted with slight abridgment from Mughnī al-Muḥtāj, Vol.1/p.529]
The conditions for combining and shortening have already been explained in Fatwa No. 14 and Fatwa No. 842. And Allah, the Exalted, knows best.
